Seismic sensors can be utilized to sense parameters of seismic energy such as acceleration, motion and/or pressure, among others. The seismic energy may be naturally occurring or may be imparted by a seismic source for the purpose of performing seismic surveys, for instance, in an underwater environment.
Permanent (hydrocarbon) reservoir monitoring (PRM) is a technique where multiple three-dimensional seismic “pictures” of the state of a hydrocarbon reservoir are taken such that a geologist or reservoir engineer may plan the location of additional boreholes for increasing the efficiency of the hydrocarbon extraction and/or may assess the efficiency of the current extraction techniques over time. In some cases, taking multiple seismic pictures of a hydrocarbon reservoir may be referred to as four-dimensional (4D) seismic.
Marine-based PRM faces significant challenges that are not faced by land-based reservoir monitoring systems. This is particularly true of ocean bottom installations as water depths extend into the 1000 meter range and beyond.
Some seismic sensor package designs appropriate for PRM may include manufacturing techniques that rely on structural rigidity, strong adhesives, encapsulants, and pressurization, etc., to provide a water-tight enclosure for the seismic sensors in order to protect the seismic sensors from exposure to water and/or to withstand high pressure in deep water. It may be difficult to service the seismic sensor package in such cases. As such, a small difficulty with one component of such a seismic sensor package may result in disposal of the whole specialized and/or expensive seismic sensor package.